John
John G. Kneen
d. November 13, 2015
John G. Kneen, 71, gently passed away on November 13, 2015. The cause was stomach cancer.
John was born on January 29, 1944 in Pretoria, South Africa where he attended a British-style boarding school through elementary and high school. In 1962 he came to the United States to take up a scholarship offer from Yale University. He graduated from Yale, Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1966 and was offered a full fellowship by Columbia University School of Business, where he majored in marketing.
While a student at Columbia John worked part-time for New York Mayor John Lindsey's task force for development in Harlem. In addition, in a joint venture with a New York based magazine, he led a study of corporate recruiting practices at eight leading MBA campuses. The results of this study were extensively written up in the Wall Street Journal, and the high priced report was purchased by most of the leading recruiters of MBA's at that time. As a result, John graduated with his MBA not only debt free but with a substantial nest egg to start his business career.
After graduation, John joined a consulting firm in New York. He also met the love of his life, Pat Haley, who after graduation from college, had moved to New York from Sioux City, Iowa to join TWA as a flight attendant. In December 1969 they were married.
In 1971 John and Pat moved to Johannesburg, South Africa where John rapidly moved into the senior management ranks of a major local bank. In 1978 they returned to New York where in due course John joined Towers Perrin, a large global consulting firm. At Towers Perrin, John advised financial firms on how to take advantage of the changing regulatory climate to enter new markets. During these years he was a sought-after speaker on the changing financial services industry and was invited to speak at dozens of conventions throughout the U.S. and Europe.
In 1991 John was appointed to the position of Managing Director foreign operations in which position he was responsible for the firm's relationship with its clients and also the world wide office network which covered twenty-one countries. He also served on the firm's Board of Directors for his last ten years at the firm. He and Pat traveled extensively during this time and were able to visit the world's developed and rapidly developing countries to meet with clients and field based staff.
John and Pat's vacation travel during these years included annual game viewing trips to wildlife parks in East and Southern Africa where John developed a deep interest in wildlife photography.
In 1998 John retired and he and Pat moved to New Mexico because of their affection for the diversity and friendliness of New Mexicans, the state's wide open spaces and the sun-drenched climate. To reduce the shock of retirement and to give back to the country that had always been generous to him, John volunteered to teach without pay at the Anderson School of Business at UNM. For six years he carried a full-time teaching load focusing on classes in international business and business strategy, He regarded the experience of working with approximately two thousand young New Mexicans in this classroom environment as one of the highlights of his life.
After retirement John also took up birding, focusing on birds of the western United States. By the time of his death his tally of new target birds he had seen and identified was well into the four hundreds. The Albuquerque Zoo was another abiding interest. John believed that our zoo is a gem and delighted in paying for the zoo to transport in new arrivals. He helped bring in a number of charismatic zoo residents; Chopper the baby rhino (who was Fed-Exed in from Florida), Karen the hippo, Sarabi the lioness, Merlina the jaguar, and a pair of military macaws.
John is survived by Pat, his wife of forty-seven years and his best friend for all those years; sister Mercia (Peter) and brother Marcus (Rosemary) all of Pretoria, South Africa; nieces Debbie (Francois) of Cape Town, South Africa, Nicolette (Gavin) of Brussels, Belgium; nephew Jacques (Debbie) of Pretoria South Africa. He has eight brothers and sisters-in-law in U.S., particularly Maureen Haley in Iowa, Bob Haley in Arizona, Carol Garvis in Iowa and John Haley (Diana) in Arkansas.
A celebration of life will be held on Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 2:00 pm in the chapel at La Vida Llena; 10501 Lagrima de Oro NE. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Watermelon Mountain Ranch Animal Center; 1512 Deborah Road SE Rio Rancho, NM 87124 or Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation at P.O. Box 2666 Albuquerque, NM 87125-6666.
John was born on January 29, 1944 in Pretoria, South Africa where he attended a British-style boarding school through elementary and high school. In 1962 he came to the United States to take up a scholarship offer from Yale University. He graduated from Yale, Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1966 and was offered a full fellowship by Columbia University School of Business, where he majored in marketing.
While a student at Columbia John worked part-time for New York Mayor John Lindsey's task force for development in Harlem. In addition, in a joint venture with a New York based magazine, he led a study of corporate recruiting practices at eight leading MBA campuses. The results of this study were extensively written up in the Wall Street Journal, and the high priced report was purchased by most of the leading recruiters of MBA's at that time. As a result, John graduated with his MBA not only debt free but with a substantial nest egg to start his business career.
After graduation, John joined a consulting firm in New York. He also met the love of his life, Pat Haley, who after graduation from college, had moved to New York from Sioux City, Iowa to join TWA as a flight attendant. In December 1969 they were married.
In 1971 John and Pat moved to Johannesburg, South Africa where John rapidly moved into the senior management ranks of a major local bank. In 1978 they returned to New York where in due course John joined Towers Perrin, a large global consulting firm. At Towers Perrin, John advised financial firms on how to take advantage of the changing regulatory climate to enter new markets. During these years he was a sought-after speaker on the changing financial services industry and was invited to speak at dozens of conventions throughout the U.S. and Europe.
In 1991 John was appointed to the position of Managing Director foreign operations in which position he was responsible for the firm's relationship with its clients and also the world wide office network which covered twenty-one countries. He also served on the firm's Board of Directors for his last ten years at the firm. He and Pat traveled extensively during this time and were able to visit the world's developed and rapidly developing countries to meet with clients and field based staff.
John and Pat's vacation travel during these years included annual game viewing trips to wildlife parks in East and Southern Africa where John developed a deep interest in wildlife photography.
In 1998 John retired and he and Pat moved to New Mexico because of their affection for the diversity and friendliness of New Mexicans, the state's wide open spaces and the sun-drenched climate. To reduce the shock of retirement and to give back to the country that had always been generous to him, John volunteered to teach without pay at the Anderson School of Business at UNM. For six years he carried a full-time teaching load focusing on classes in international business and business strategy, He regarded the experience of working with approximately two thousand young New Mexicans in this classroom environment as one of the highlights of his life.
After retirement John also took up birding, focusing on birds of the western United States. By the time of his death his tally of new target birds he had seen and identified was well into the four hundreds. The Albuquerque Zoo was another abiding interest. John believed that our zoo is a gem and delighted in paying for the zoo to transport in new arrivals. He helped bring in a number of charismatic zoo residents; Chopper the baby rhino (who was Fed-Exed in from Florida), Karen the hippo, Sarabi the lioness, Merlina the jaguar, and a pair of military macaws.
John is survived by Pat, his wife of forty-seven years and his best friend for all those years; sister Mercia (Peter) and brother Marcus (Rosemary) all of Pretoria, South Africa; nieces Debbie (Francois) of Cape Town, South Africa, Nicolette (Gavin) of Brussels, Belgium; nephew Jacques (Debbie) of Pretoria South Africa. He has eight brothers and sisters-in-law in U.S., particularly Maureen Haley in Iowa, Bob Haley in Arizona, Carol Garvis in Iowa and John Haley (Diana) in Arkansas.
A celebration of life will be held on Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 2:00 pm in the chapel at La Vida Llena; 10501 Lagrima de Oro NE. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Watermelon Mountain Ranch Animal Center; 1512 Deborah Road SE Rio Rancho, NM 87124 or Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation at P.O. Box 2666 Albuquerque, NM 87125-6666.
Service Details
Tuesday, December 1st, 2015, 2:00pm, La Vida Llena
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